FINDING PEAK FORM AND PIZZA IN PHOENIX

I spent last weekend with Cate in Mesa, Arizona for a weekend of soccer. The weekend was a chance for Cate's team to qualify for the National Championships for the second year in a row. However, doing so required them to win all three of their scheduled games, which was no small feat.

We started off strong, winning our first match 9-2. Cate had a beautiful goal from the top of the box and an assist, and the team was flying. We tied the second game 1-1, surrendering a late goal from a set piece. In the final game, we beat the team who had beat the top of our group 1-0. While we did not get the nine points we needed to automatically qualify, we can still get in if one of the remaining teams - who have played one game less - loses. We will hold our breaths. Our team can also advance by winning a Regional championship in June, so there is still hope!

More than the weekend of soccer and seeing Cate boss the midfield, I enjoyed spending time with her. We checked out Pizzeria Bianco, which critics on a Chef's Table episode on Netflix called the best pizza place in America. We watched the horror film, "The Menu," together, and we had some fun eating conveyer belt sushi!

These trips are about so much more than soccer. I know Cate is grateful to be able to take these trips and do travel soccer. I, too, am grateful to have these trips and bonding time. Let's hope we make the Big Dance. Even if we don't, the road to get there has already been memorable!

AFTERSUN

Leaving home and burying a parent are the big moments that define the lives of parents and children, alike. However, there are many other occasions in life that are every bit as momentous, even if we cannot appreciate their importance in the moment. That is the message the filmmaker Charlotte Wells weaves into her beautiful new film, "Aftersun."

At face value, the film is a story about a father and daughter, who are from Scotland, on holiday in Turkey. Their activities are mostly banal things that many people do on vacation - go out to eat, site see, lounge at the pool. The main characters take turns recording some of these moments with a camcorder, alerting us to the fact that our story takes places in the not-to-distant past. 

What we do not realize is just how big an impact these small moments and the memory of that trip will have on one of the main characters. That is because we lack the context of this trip until very late in the movie. In that sense, this film is like life: it is best understood backwards but must be lived forwards. 

"Aftersun" felt like a clarion call to not lose sight of the many quotidian moments in life that have the potential to be every bit as momentous as events that appear to be more dramatic. The key is to live in the present and not dwell on the past because none of us knows what the future may bring. I hope I can remember these lessons in the days and years to come and savor every moment - especially with my own children.

HOMELESSNESS

The writer Jerusalem Demsas has been chronically the issues of income inequality for some time. Recently, she joined the Atlantic and has written a series of articles about one of the biggest upshots of an income unequal society - homelessness. 

Her take is rather simple. Our current homelessness is not caused by a sudden and new surge in mental illness or drug abuse. Neither can one blame liberal, blue state policies. Rather, homelessness is simply a function of an inadequate supply of affordable housing in cities where large numbers of people wish to live and where one financial disaster can mean the end of their precarious housing situations. 

I found her arguments quite persuasive, and she cited Houston as a role model for a city that has reduced homelessness by 60% in the past decade by aggressively building more housing and placing vulnerable people in those homes. Not in my backyard (NIMBY)-ism seems to be at the heart of the housing crisis facing so many communities as local homeowners are given carte blanche to veto new construction - often affordable houses or apartments - in their backyards.

I am not sure whether we have the will to build more affordable housing in so-called "destination" cites on the west coast and the south. Perhaps the answer is to grow the economies where housing and land is plentiful in large swaths of the middle part of the U.S. We'll see if there is a will, but for now I am staying put in lovely Ann Arbor - flyover country and all!

CLINICAL

Yesterday, Cate had a pair of games to get ready for her upcoming tournament in Arizona later this month. Cate had an assist in the first game and bossed the midfield.

In the second game, one of their players committed a foul in the box. Cate, who is now the default penalty taker, was dispatched to take the kick.

Cool, as you like, she slotted home again clinically! Nice job, Cate!

THE DAY MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL STOPPED

Last week the world witnessed the collapse of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin on Monday Night Football, one of the most watched sporting programs in America. It was a horrific site to behold as this 24 year-old young man stumbled backwards after what was called a "routine" tackle and hit to the chest. Several minutes were spent on the field administering CPR before Damar was driven away in an ambulance.

While there certainly have been much more violent hits in the NFL, I was struck by the fact that this injury - inflicted by two men hurdling at each other at full speed - is entirely legal and fully a part of the game of football. 

For several days, the world waited news about Damar's status. Fortunately, he was able to extubated from a ventilator and does not appear to have sustained brain or organ damage. Nonetheless, I am left wondering why we watch such a brutal game that routinely inflicts such heavy blows on every single play - all for the sake of entertainment.

I am not sure if there will be a reconning about the rules of this game and ways to make the sport safer. I am certain that many people like me were given pause about watching and supporting this game. I also suspect many players are asking themselves this week how long they plan to play Russian roulette with their lives each week. 

A full slate of games is on tap today. The NFL playoffs start next week. So much for reflection.